Penguins Ice Panthers

     The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 at FLA Live Arena on Thursday night. Aaron Ekblad passed Robert Svehla with the most game played by a Florida Panthers defenseman as he participated in his 574th contest. 

     The Panthers finished off a stretch of four home games in their last five contests. The Penguins kept rolling with a seven-game winning streak. 

     Florida(14-13-4) got the only tally during the first period. Ryan Lomberg chalked up his fourth goal this year on assists from Eric Staal and Brandon Montour at the 5:30 mark. 

     Pittsburgh(18-8-4) would control the second period and take a 2-1 lead. Kris Letang put in a shorthanded goal at 4:17 and Jake Guentzel added a power-play goal with 7:18 to go in the second. 

     In the third period, the Penguins got a two-goal margin as Evgeni Malkin found the net with the man advantage at the 8:05 mark. The Panthers closed it to 3-2 with 9:46 remaining in the period when Sam Reinhart scored his ninth goal of the season. Carter Verhaeghe was credited with the only assist on the play. Guentzel got his second goal of the game and 15th goal of the campaign when he placed the puck into an empty net with 1:18 left in the third to make it 4-2.